Mankato East uses fall practices to replenish after 27 graduate

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - With the fall high school sports season right around the corner, KEYC News Now makes a stop at the Cougars’ headquarters to see how the Mankato East football team is gearing up for the 2022 season.

“It’s interesting, we’ve never lost 27 seniors before, so lots of new faces, lots of new people getting a chance, lots of people waited last year. They maybe played behind a really good senior last year, and now they get their chance this year, so that’s always an exciting thing to see players step up and see what they can do,” Mankato East Head Coach Eric Davis said.

A different kind of energy hit the gridiron on the first day of practice on Monday, as the Mankato East up-and-comers appeared eager to earn a starting role and retire the days watching from the sidelines.

Regardless of who rises on the depth chart, the Cougars aim to build on last year’s six win season — set to face the same opponents with the exception of host sites.

“Well, they know what winning looks like and that’s a big deal and that gives them something that they know they need to shoot for if they want to continue what last year’s group helped lay the groundwork for,” added Davis.

“I’m excited to get to it. I mean, you wait for it all year, last year obviously was fun. Not being able to go out there and showcase as much as you want, but being able to step into a role like this year it’s awesome,” senior offensive lineman and slot receiver Alex Hennis said.

The newfound responsibility for Hennis came naturally, after years of learning from the upperclassmen before him.

“It’s kind of surreal. I mean, it’s this year. I show up on the first day, see a bunch of these faces, they’re kind of looking at me differently, I was in their shoes last year,” Hennis added.

In other situations, like at quarterback, it’ll be the days leading up to the Sept. 2 season opener against Stewartville that’ll determine a starter.

“We want to find what players can do, not worry about what they can’t do, and that’s a huge deal as far as high school football goes in all parts of the country,” said Davis.

The countdown is on for the start of the high school football season, less than three weeks away.

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